1887 in modern use, back-formation from resurgent. The verb also was in use in 17c., from Latin resurgere, but it became obsolete. An older verb form was resourd (mid-15c.). Related: Resurged; resurging.

1772, back-formation from resurrection. Related: Resurrected; resurrecting. "The correct form is resurge, which, however, is intransitive only, whereas the verb resurrect can be used both as transitive and intransitive ..." [Klein]. Related: Resurrected; resurrecting.

c.1300, originally the name of a Church festival commemorating Christ's rising from death, from Anglo-French resurrectiun, Old French resurrection "the Resurrection of Christ" (12c.) and directly from Church Latin resurrectionem (nominative resurrectio) "a rising again from the dead," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin resurgere "rise again, appear again" (see resurgent). Replaced Old English æriste.

Generalized sense of "revival" is from 1640s. Also used in Middle English of the rising again of the dead on the Last Day (c.1300). Resurrectionist, euphemism for "grave-robber" is attested from 1776. Resurrection pie was mid-19c. English schoolboy slang for a pie made from leftovers of previous meals; first attested 1831 as a Sheffield dialect term.

There was a dreadful pie for dinner every Monday; a meat-pie with a stony crust that did not break; but split into scaly layers, with horrible lumps of gristle inside, and such strings of sinew (alternated by lumps of flabby fat) as a ghoule might use as a rosary. We called it kitten pie--resurrection pie--rag pie--dead man's pie. We cursed it by night we cursed it by day; we wouldn't stand it, we said; we would write to our friends; we would go to sea. ["How I Went to Sea," "Harper's Magazine," December 1852]

early 15c., "sale of commodities in small quantities or parcels or at second hand" (opposed to wholesale), from Old French retail "piece cut off, shred, scrap, paring" (Modern French retaille), from retaillier (see retail (v.)). The notion of the English word is "a selling by the piece." This sense is not in French, however, and comes perhaps from cognate Italian ritaglio, which does have that sense. As an adjective, "of or pertaining to sale at retail," c.1600.

"fee to secure services," mid-15c., originally "act of keeping for oneself" from retain, or perhaps from or influenced by Middle French retenir, infinitive used as a noun. Meaning "fee paid to an attorney to secure his services" is from 1818.

mid-15c., "to take back," from re- "back, again" + take (v.). Meaning "to recapture" is recorded from 1640s; sense of "to record a second time" is attested from 1962. Related: Retook; retaking; retaken. As a noun from 1918; figurative use from 1937.

1580s, noun of action from Late Latin retaliare "pay back in kind," from re- "back" (see re-) + Latin talio "exaction of payment in kind," from or influenced by talis "suchlike" (see that). Originally used both in good and evil senses.

The noun is recorded from 1788 in the sense "retardation, delay;" from 1970 in offensive meaning "retarded person," originally American English, with accent on first syllable. Other words used for "one who is mentally retarded" include retardate (1956), retardee (1971).

1540s, originally "to clear the throat, to cough up phlegm," from Old English hræcan "to cough up, spit" (related to hraca "phlegm"), from Proto-Germanic *khrækijan (cognates: Old High German rahhison "to clear one's throat"), of imitative origin (compare Lithuanian kregeti "to grunt"). Meaning "to make efforts to vomit" is from 1850; sense of "to vomit" is first attested 1888. Related: Retched; retching.

late 14c., from Latin retentionem (nominative retentio) "a retaining, a holding back," noun of action from past participle stem of retinere (see retain). Originally medical; mental sense is from late 15c.

late 14c., "able to hold or keep" (mental or physical), from Old French retentif, from Medieval Latin retentivus, from past participle stem of Latin retinere (see retain). Related: Retentively; retentiveness.

1650s, "second stomach of a ruminant" (so called from the folds of the membrane), from Latin reticulum "a little net" (see reticulate (adj.)). The word was later given various uses in biology, cytology, histology, etc., and made a southern constellation by La Caille (1763).

late 14c., from Medieval Latin retina "the retina," probably from Vulgar Latin (tunica) *retina, literally "net-like tunic," on resemblance to the network of blood vessels at the back of the eye, and ultimately from Latin rete "net" (see reticulate (adj.)). The Vulgar Latin phrase might be Gerard of Cremona's 12c. translation of Arabic (tabaqa) shabakiyyah "netlike (layer)," itself probably a translation of Greek amphiblestroeides (khiton).